Israeli troops remain on the ground in southern Lebanon, despite a ceasefire agreement that required Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory following its recent war with Hezbollah. Israel pulled out of Lebanese towns and villages on February 18, two weeks after it was supposed to do so under a two-month truce that began on […]
Is Israel ready and willing to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities? This is not an idle question. It goes to the heart of current tensions in the Middle East. Israel has been contemplating this potentially risky military option for more than a decade. But of late, Israel appears to have moved closer to implementing this objective, […]
The swift collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s secular regime, followed by the rapid emergence of an Islamist government in Damascus, are driving speculation that Israel and Turkey could be on the cusp of a collision course in Syria. Early last month, an Israeli government committee headed by Jacob Nagel, a former high-ranking Israeli army […]
Donald Trump dropped a bombshell during an extraordinary press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on February 4. It sent shock waves across the Middle East, causing a great deal of dismay. In one of the most stunning and far-reaching proposals ever presented by a sitting American president, Trump announced that the U.S. […]
The United States recently redesignated the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization,” citing the threat they pose to the security and stability of the Middle East. The designation was originally imposed by President Donald Trump during his first term of office. It is richly deserved. The Houthis, a Shi’a tribal group in northern Yemen aligned […]
The fourth Israeli hostage/Palestinian prisoner exchange since November 2023 took place in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Yarden Bibas, 35, Ofer Calderon, 54, and Keith Siegel, 65, were freed after 484 days in captivity. Before they were released into the custody of the Red Cross, they were forced to stand on a stage under a […]
As widely expected, Israel did not withdraw from southern Lebanon on January 26. Under the 60-day ceasefire agreement, Israel was supposed to cede its positions to the Lebanese army before pulling out. But as the deadline for its withdrawal approached, Israel notified representatives of the oversight committee that monitors the ceasefire — the United States, France, […]
The sudden, unexpected downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last month was a searingly stunning blow to Russia’s status in Syria, its ambition to be a key player in the Middle East, and its international prestige. Syria was not only Russia’s chief client state in the region, but the locale of its only military bases […]
A wave of elation and relief swept across Israel as a long-awaited ceasefire pausing Israel’s protracted war with Hamas took hold on January 19 and three Hamas hostages, Romi Gonen, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher, were released after enduring 471 horrendous days of captivity in the Gaza Strip. The celebratory mood was marred by an […]
As he begins his second four-year term as president of the United States, Donald Trump faces a myriad of challenges in the Middle East, one of the world’s most volatile and unstable regions. When he was inaugurated in Washington, D.C. on January 20, the fate of Israel’s ceasefire/hostage agreement with Hamas still hung in the […]